Grimlock
'Grimlock ' (グリムロック, Gurimurokku) was a player of Sword Art Online, a member of the Golden Apple Guild, the husband of Griselda as well as her true murderer. He serves as the main antagonist of Episode 5 and Episode 6. Biography Pre-Episode 6 Grimlock was Griselda's husband, they were happily married and never had a fight. Gridelda was a typical wife, who always made dinner for her husband and Grimlock was happy the way thing were. The two of them ended up trapped in the Sword Art Online upon its launch day and they formed a guild known as the "Golden Apple", and eventually recruited Kains, Yolko, Schmitt and three other players. All of whom became great friends. However, being the leader of the guild drastically changed Griselda, as she became more independent and was constantly too busy to cook her husband's meals like she used to do. This shock to Grimlock's routine drove him to despair, believing that his wife betrayed him, and became convince that he now had to kill his wife in order to preserve the memory of the person she used to be. On one unfortunate day, the guild came upon a rare and valuable item but were unsure of what to do with the item. A meeting was held to determine the choice of whether to keep or sell the item and was put to a vote between the two options, to sell the item or keep it. The vote was five to three in favor of selling the item and Griselda went into town afterwards in order to do so. Grimlock took this opportunity to murder his wife while she was away from the rest of the group. It wasn’t long after the rest of the guild learned the terrible truth that Griselda had been murdered and the item was gone. Distraught at the loss of their friend, the guild disbanded. Yolko and Kains however were not satisfied, and for the next six months plotted to reveal the true killer. They recruited Grimlock as he was Griselda’s husband and believed he would want revenge as well, believing he had no motive to kill his wife as they seemed like a happy couple. In hopes of covering up his crimes, Grimlock plotted to kill the two of them so they wouldn’t discover the truth. Grimlock steered them to look towards Schmitt, as he was the only other person who wanted to keep the item. Yolko and Kains, consumed with vengeance, believed it to be true, even though it was obvious that Schmitt was not the killer, as he was too incompetent to commit such a task. Grimlock then made a sword for Yolko and Kains to use in their plans. Episode 6 Once Yolko and Kains faked their deaths and convinced Schmitt that it was the ghost of Griselda who killed them, Grimlock paid the members of Laughing Coffin to kill them once they were all in one place. But luckily for them, Kirito had figured out both Yolko and Kains deception and Grimlock's guilt and rescued them before Jeffrey could kill them. Asuna was tasked by Kirito to track down Grimlock and bring him to where they all were, but Grimlock apparently wasn't very cooperative and took awhile to capture, throwing off Kirito's grand revealing speech. Grimlock stood idly by with a smug look on his face as Kirito explained his guilt, but became offended when Kirito incorrectly guessed that his motive was to keep the profits from the item all for himself, since married player share inventory space in the game, therefore when Griselda died he still had the item and could have sold it anytime he wanted. Grimlock proceeded to explain his motive in a way that made him sound like the victim, but all it did was disgust the other players. Kirito especially the hardest, and began to chastise Grimlock, saying that he had something special and he threw it away. Grimlock was unaffected by his speech, saying that Kirito would understand when he falls in love, but broke down when Asuna told him the hat he was wearing made him look like a hipster. Kirito was annoyed by this, as he delved into a place that was filled with "emotions that scare and confuse me", but reinforced Asuna's claim that by saying it maid him look like John Lennon if he joined the Mafia, even though he thought it was an easy thing to come up with that had no challenge to it. Grimlock was then carried by his former guild mates, who put him behind a tree and beat him up before snapping his neck, finally avenging Griselda. Legacy Although Grimlock was a horrible human being, he helped Asuna see that Kirito had a hidden soft side, which was part of the reason why she fell in love with him. Personality Not much is known about what he was like before SAO, although he apparently seemed like a regular person, but after Griselda's "betrayal", he became deranged, whinny, petty and childish, only caring about himself and what best suited him, driven to the point of murder. He cared so much about himself that he didn't care if he disgusted others with his action but cared more about how he looked. Differences from the Original His motive for killing Griselda was very similar to his motive in the original, except it was spurred on by the fact that he was afraid of dying while she seemed to be much happier in the game, and he feared that she would no longer be the woman he loved anymore. It was outright stated in the original that he hired Laughing Coffin to kill both his wife and his guild mates in the original, while here it was only vaguely implied that he hired them to kill Caynz, Yolko and Schmitt and killed Griselda himself. Asuna is the one to get Grimlock to break down, but it's because she basically makes the same speech Kirito makes here. Once Grimlock breaks down his guild mates don't take him behind a tree and beat him to death, it's unknown what happened to him afterwards but he was one of the players who got logged out after Kayaba's defeat. Voice Actor * In the Japanese Dub Grimlock is voiced by Ken Narita. * In the English Dub Grimlock is voiced by Matthew Mercer. * In the Abridged Series Grimlock is voiced by KaiserNeko. Quotes TBA Appearances Trivia * KaiserNeko would later go on to voice the Main Villain of the Fairy Dance Arc arc, Nobuyuki Sugou. References Navigation Category:Characters Category:Male Characters Category:Villains Category:A to Z Category:SAO Players Category:Deceased Characters Category:Side Characters